Press freedom slips in Zambia

In Zambia, the
coming week will mark the anniversary of the untimely death of President
Levy Patrick Mwanawasa. The late president had championed press freedom with
his commitments to reform, and, with his passing, the Zambian media lost an
ally. Worse, the media freedoms gained in recent years are now slipping.

Just
last week, on August 7, I was among about 400 journalists, civil society
organization members, and students who gathered in Olympia Park in the capital,
Lusaka, for a peaceful march
against a wave of recent violence against journalists.

What really got us out in the
streets that morning was a July 29 incident in which reporter Anthony Mulowa of
the state-run Times of Zambia and Chibaula Silwamba of the leading
private newspaper The Post were assaulted--in full view of senior
police officers--by members
of the ruling party. They were covering President
Rupiah Bwezani Banda's arrival from Uganda
at the LusakaInternationalAirport.

This year alone, the Media
Institute of Southern Africa Zambia (MISA)
has documented 21 incidents of harassment (physical violence and threats) and hostile rhetoric
against the media. Reporters from The
Post newspaper, Zambia's
leading private daily, were victimized in almost all the incidents, but
opposition supporters also harassed at least
one state media journalist, namely Zambia
National Broadcasting Corporation journalist Lackson Nthani.

The rhetoric of the current
administration toward the media has been mixed. Vice President George Kunda,
who received our 10-page march petition, addressed
us by saying that "President Banda and the
entire government leadership" was "concerned" about violence against the media.
"Those who engage in violence will meet the full force of the law," he added. While condemning violence, he then suggested the
media was to blame for the violent incidents. "On
the other hand, there is need to appreciate that the manner in which the media
publish or carry some of their articles can be provocative and in some cases
incite violence," he declared. Information Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha also
condemned the violence, but shot back with the following statement:
"The president is insulted almost on a daily basis, and he has supporters who
voted for him across the country. How do you expect them to feel, apart from
being provoked?"

It was a year ago when tensions
between The Post and the current administration escalated. During
presidential by-elections for the successor of the deceased president, The
Post consistently published editorials denouncing the personality and style
of leadership of frontrunner, then-Vice President Banda. In response, Banda's
Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) sent a complaint
to the Media Council of Zambia, citing more than 20 negative editorials, which
they deemed unfair. Banda even once declared at a rally that "Anyone who is a
friend of The Post is the enemy of Rupiah Banda."

The Posts news editor, Chansa Kabwela, is incidentally mired in a court
case with the administration: She is accused of circulating obscene
materials after she mailed to the Vice President's office photographs of a
woman giving birth on the floor of a hospital during a health workers' strike.
Her case is still in court and it is seen as a symptom of the sour relationship
between The Post and the current administration.

The Zambian private press has come a long way since its
inception in 1991 in the last days of the one-party rule of Zambian
independence hero Kenneth David Kaunda. Then, the nascent private press backed
a union leader who promised democracy and reform, Frederick Titus Jacob
Chiluba. However, when a growing independent press began challenging Chiluba's
policies or reporting official corruption,
the new president wavered on his electoral commitments to press freedom and
repression ensued. Chiluba's successor, late President Mwanawasa, introduced a
series of positive media reform legislation in 2003, including a Freedom of
Information (FOI) Bill, but the reforms have not been implemented to this day
and the FOI bill is still pending in parliament. Worse, outdated laws (some
dating as far back as the colonial 1930s), including sweeping presidential powers
to ban publications, and sedition and criminal defamation laws, still threaten
press freedom.

In response to these concerns of the media, the government
and members of parliament are increasingly changing the subject of the debate
to the regulation of what
authorities deem to be unethical journalism undermining national interests.
Information Minister Shikapwasha went as far as saying that "negative reporting
by the media can put the country into flames and this is likely to kill
opportunities for the future generations." For now, however, the government has
already issued an ultimatum: Come up
with a draft bill for self-regulation within months or we will introduce one in
parliament.

Another freedom of the Zambian media is slipping away: our
freedom to self-regulate.

Henry Kabwe, the chairman of
the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia, is currently the coordinator of the local Media Network on Child Rights and Development (MNCRD) and a media monitoring consultant in
Lusaka, Zambia.

Comments

No Press freedom is not under any threat in Zambia but unethical gutter journalism is.Ethical journalism has all the space to thrive in this country.Constitutionally, Zambia is a Christian nation with a moral society that treasures its laws, moral codes and virtues.

Democracy and freedom come with responsibility a fact the agenda media need to know.Sensational and daily insults kind of reporting is not journalism to preserve.Zambian mothers, leaders and progressives of diverse opinions are daily called prostitues, hyenas, scoundrels, monkeys, fools, idiots and all the hate vitriolics you can hear about.

Such is unethical anarchy journalism no democracy can tolerate.Under such abuse, self regulation is a must.

If unethical reporting is justication for beatings and statutory control, then we need lessons of how to alternatively sort out our issues. This means that we might as we start beating our wives, workers and children for unethical behaviour. There is no justification for violence and there are enough laws in Zambia to deal with the 'insulters'.

For a good number of years the press in Zambia has been asked to set up some kind of self regulation. The press has failed to do so. It appears the press in Zambia is only interested in freedom without responsibility. There is nowhere in the world where bthe press does not have some sort of regulation whether it is "self regulation" or "Statutory regulation". The worst threat to press freedom in Zambia is the irresponsibility exhibitted by some practitioners.
The press can be very destructive just as it can be very good for democracy. Let us not forget the role of the press in the Rwanda Genocide.

Senior citizen. Remember the days of Charles Mando and Gorreti Mapulanga at the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and the harsh editorials and columns (Kapelwa Musonda and Sunday Special) in the Times under the so-called repressive, obnoxious Kaunda regime, isn't the MMD government worse at how the handle the state-run media than KK? I thought you have lived long enough to see that!